


Bug?

by Adohug



Category: Starship - Team StarKid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bug is not a Bug, Other, but its little vignettes at first, there's no romance really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 21:04:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17815490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adohug/pseuds/Adohug
Summary: The bugs around her buzzed in confusion and concern, but no one dared speak out. The Overqueen had spoken.or: Bug is Human the Whole Time, and this is what I think might have happened if that was true





	Bug?

It obviously wasn’t a bug; it didn’t have an exoskeleton, and its fleshy bits were warm, like a mammal. It should have been nothing but an egg holder, a way to advance the Hive. As the Overqueen, she knew that, logically, she should have the mammal sent to a mammal wrangler to raise until it was big enough for an egg. She should have sent it away without a second thought. 

She should have, but… 

It opened its abnormal eyes, stretching its unprotected flesh appendages towards her, and made such a cute noise, almost like it was trying to imitate the words the bugs are making around it. 

She made a decision. “This is Bug. He will be raised as a bug. He will serve the hive after learning our ways, just like any young bug.”

The bugs around her buzzed in confusion and concern, but no one dared speak out. The Overqueen had spoken.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bug took a while to learn how to communicate and move around by himself, which his “Bug Wranglers” found concerning. But, once he was moving, he really moved; Mayfly turned around once and Bug had moved from right in front of her to the edge of the cliff, and it was only quick reflexes that saved him from an early grave.

“Bug, how many times do I need to repeat this? The Overqueen would kill me (and not for nourishment) if you ended up dead.” She scolds him again as he moves that weird soft stringy stuff from his eyes to look at her. Seriously, why did the Queen make a mammal a bug?

“Sorry, Mayfly. I’ll be carefuller.” He sounds sincere, and she buzzes in relief.

She moves his black stringy stuff behind his soft extrusions (are they ears, like on mammals?) and pats the top of his head. “Let’s move on, and away from the ledge, and begin your lessons. Finish this sentence: The needs of the many bugs--” 

“-- Outweigh the needs of the few or the one bug!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mayfly had become nourishment, and Bug was still growing. He was taller than most of the Hive now, and started needing to crouch when walking through the tunnels. When not in lessons, he was allowed to roam around outside with the mammals, because the Bug Wranglers have realized that he needs to move more than an average bug. What his Wranglers didn’t know was that Bug spent his roaming time in the hunk of cold hard stuff over the ridge that was teaching him a new language that felt a whole lot easier to speak than the buzzing, deep words of Bugworld. 

It was in this “starship” that Bug learned about other planets, other creatures, weird mammals that called themselves “hoomens” and “starship rangers,” and he was enthralled. He dreamed of flying through the stars that he could only see outside of the Hive, and soon he confided in his friend Roach about his hideout.

“What? You don’t stay with the mammals during your roaming time?” Roach was much younger than Bug, but at this point he was used to outliving everyone around him. “What if your Wranglers find out?”

“They haven’t so far,” He awkwardly smiles at Buggette as she slinks by, “And they won’t, until the Overqueen assigns me to become a Starship Ranger.”

At that, Roach laughed. “You really think the Overqueen will know what you want to do if you don’t tell anyone but me about your dreams?”

“Of course she’ll know! She’s the Overqueen!” 

“Yeah, yeah. Now come on, I hear your Wranglers calling for you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Egg Planter Bug moped along to his job, waiting for his new instructor to teach him about how exactly he should shove the eggs down the throats of the mammals. He was so sure that the Overqueen would understand…

He was shaken from his thoughts by a noise he sort of recognized. Was that… Hoomen Language?

"Hello? Hello, anyone?? Help!"

Hope began to fill Bug’s chest. The only Hoomens who could get to Bugworld were Starship Rangers! He could fly away with them!

… Before that, though, he might want to put on the soft exoskeleton parts the Starship Rangers wear in the video, the Yooniform. And maybe he should rescue this Hoomen… 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He did it! He’s on the Starship, with six Hoomens, and they just let him join, with no issue. They listened to his story, and seemed surprised that Bug was raised as a Bug, especially after seeing how they treated mammals on Bugworld.

“They didn’t raise you to have eggs shoved down your throat?” One of the tall ones, with short soft stringy stuff on its head, spoke up after hearing that.

“No, I’m a bug, not a mammal.” This reply came with face contortions he doesn’t know how to interpret. “I learned Hoomen Language and about Starship Rangers from a video in an abandoned Starship that crashed generations ago. Well, I seem to outlive generations, but real bug generations ago. The only bug who might have been around when it crashed would have been the Overqueen, probably.”

Another Hoomen, with curly soft stringy stuff and hard round things in front of its eyes, stepped forwards and examined the Yooniform Bug had on. “Well, the uniform you have was last used eighteen years ago, which corresponds with a ship going missing about that time, around this sector of space…” 

“Bug, jou need to bring us to dis crashed ship, and to dis Overqueen. We need answers.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Log Report. We’ve been on this planet long enough for Science Officer Asher to deliver her son, but Asher herself didn’t make it. The boy has been named by the crew Private Bugger, and has quickly become the mascot, as well as a reminder that even though no one has been responding to our distress signals, we are alive, well, and adapting to our new environment.

“I… As commanding officer of the ship, I take inventory once a week, and each week I pray to Dead God that there will, somehow, be more for us to share; and every week, I am reminded of time’s endless march towards oblivion, and our endless march towards starvation. We’ve been analyzing the local flora and any fauna we can find to see if any is edible, and a lot of the flora is; however, this terrain is mostly rocky and barren, with limited plantlife. Even with environmental supplementation and cutting down on ration sizes… we will starve.

“At night, I’ve been hearing skittering, like there’s… something out there, watching us. It speaks, maybe to itself, maybe to others of… whatever it is, in a scratchy, buzzing, language… almost like-- like bugs. I don’t know if whatever is out there is friendly or not… But it- it’s nocturnal, and there’s only one way to discern its threat level… I-- I need to interact with it.

“If anyone ever- ever finds these videos… dammit, Yaxlin, no crying-- I just need someone to- to tell my husband, kids, moms-- I’m just completing my duties as a Starship Ranger. Don’t- don’t feel like you need to take revenge or anything if I don-- if you only get these vid--

 

 

 

“Anyways, um… This is Commander Yaxlin, ending Log Report.

“............ Dead God help me tonight.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was the first time Bug had seen the unscrambled video, thanks to the Hoomen with the hard round things in front its eyes (Spex, that was its name), and he was looking around, trying to learn how Hoomens move their soft fleshy face to express tonal buzzing, since they can’t make those noises. 

The shortest one, with dark soft stringy stuff held back with a bright band that didn’t match its Yooniform (Tazz?), had its little pet face caterpillars touching, and its sideways mandibles turned into an arc facing down. Its taller friend, with the lighter soft stringy stuff and stiffer movements (Yup, maybe) had water on its face- was there a leak somewhere?- and its lower mandible was quivering. Spex was rubbing its curly stringy stuff, but its face was otherwise the same, as was the one with the Yooniform top sideways on its head (Krandur, he thinks), and the… other one (Tootsy?). Shyence Officer February wasn’t looking at the video, and he instead made eye contact with her when looking around. 

“I’ve never seen that video in that order before, and it makes a lot more sense now.” Bug breaks the silence eventually. “So, onto the Overqueen?”

It’s not like Bug could understand that two of the Hoomens were slowly realizing exactly who Bug really was and were forming a list of questions to ask the Overqueen, since they weren’t saying anything out loud.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Overqueen was surprised to see Bug, especially since he was leading a group of mammals… right… towards… her?

“Everyone, leave the pit. Bug, what is this?” The other bugs comply, leaving only the Overqueen and the new arrivals.

“Hi! These are Hoomens that have a few questions for you, and since I know their language (and I will explain how I know it later), I will act as translator, if this pleases you.” He’s polite, calm, and she could still feel the excitement coming off of him in waves.

“Well, if they mean no harm, I suppose a few questions wouldn’t hurt… But I get to ask questions too.” She states her opinion, and Bug nods, turning to the “Hoomens” and making guttural noises at them, probably communicating. 

After a few moments, Bug turns around again. “Okay, the first question they have is about how long you’ve been ruling, with a connected question of where I came from.”

“I’ve been the Overqueen ever since I hatched and ate the old Overqueen for nourishment, just as she did to her predecessor, and as she did to her predecessor, and as she did to her predecessor, and so on and so forth.” She answers that part quickly, and lets Bug translate it to the group. “As for where you came from… 

“It was early into my lifespan, about five generations ago, when a big, hard, cold thing came from the stars, and crashed into the rocks above, holding some sort of creature; maybe a Hive from another place? Since it was so new and different, for many cycles I sent scouts to observe; however, the Hive that landed seemed to be most active in the bright time.” She pauses, Bug translates, and the Hoomens look at each other. “After a few cycles, I decided to go out and examine the new Hive myself, with a group of mammal wranglers, since they spent a lot of time on the surface. Outside of the new Hive, to my surprise, was a mammal, and the wranglers were quick to subdue it.”

Bug says as much to the group, but pauses and asks the Overqueen his own question. “Where do I come into this story?” 

“Well, the mammal made a loud guttural noise when the wranglers moved in, and more mammals appeared from the cave, making more sounds similar to that. Our wranglers had some difficulty, but we eventually subdued them all. I made my way into the cave to examine it, and… I found you.”

He stood there, mandibles agape. “I… I’m not a bug?”

“No, Bug, you are! I found you and proclaimed that you would be raised as a bug, and you were.”

One of the Hoomens made a noise at him, and Bug shook himself and spoke to them, and they all reacted. The same Hoomen made another noise, and Bug took a deep breath, turning to the Overqueen.

“Okay, I will process this later… they have more questions.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Log Report. We’ve been on this planet long enough for Science Officer Asher to deliver her son, but Asher herself didn’t make it. The boy has been named by the crew Private Bugger, and has quickly become--”

“--But Asher herself didn’t make it. The boy has been named by the crew Private Bugger--”  
“--Private Bugger--”

“Bug, where are you? We got the warp crystals, come on!” February’s voice cuts through his thoughts, and the video he keeps pausing and rewinding.

He shakes his head once, trying to clear up his brain, and heads out of the crashed ship. Outside, the crew-- his new crew-- is standing over a few boxes, next to Roach and the Overqueen.

He speaks to the Overqueen first, trying to put off saying goodbye to his friend, thanking her for the reassignment. She brushes it off, claiming that “if she had known about his passion in the beginning he would have gotten this assignment the first time.” He laughs a little and promises to send reports when he can.

After he says as much to her, he turns to Roach. “Looks like we both get to live out our dreams now, huh?” He can see the laugh in his eyes, but Roach doesn’t say anything. Instead, he grabs hold of Bug’s midsection and doesn’t let go for a while, leaving Bug to look at the Hoom-- humans in a cry for help.

February indicates that he should wrap his arms around Roach, and he does so, keeping them there until Roach moves again. “I’ll miss you.”

“Hey, you don’t have to miss me!” At that, Roach meets Bug’s eyes. “Because if you do, all you have to do is look up,” Bug points to the stars, “and that’s where I’ll be.”

Finally, he moves over to the humans. “Are you ready?” Yup asks, lifting up a box. 

Bug, or as it is on the official papers they’ll go through on the ship, Private Bugger, takes one last look around his home, and nods. “Yeah, I think I am.”

With that, the Starship Rangers board their starship and introduce Bug to the life he always dreamed of.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a total of five hours over two days, bear with me.
> 
> Any feedback is appreciated! it lets me know if i fucked up or not


End file.
